Bandwagon Fans

"You have people who wore Red Sox gear to the first regular-season series in St. Pete and now they go to the playoff games decked out in their Longoria jersey shirt as if they were Rays fans all along," said R.J Anderson, editor of DRaysBay.com, a three-year-old Web site that offers comprehensive coverage of the Rays. "Understandably, it's hard to root for a loser, but this sudden bandwagon appeal is nothing this town hasn't seen before. How many people woke up and decided they were Buccaneer fans in 1979 after ignoring them the first three seasons of existence? Or Lightning fans? Or even USF fans?"

about 1 year ago Tyler 18 comments 0 recs |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

whore. jk. congrats

by walkoffwalk on Oct 23, 2008 6:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

RJ, can I get your autograph?

by TheUltimateBucFan on Oct 23, 2008 7:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

At one time, Red Sox Nation was eerily similar to Tampa’s cowbell crowd. The year before the Red Sox appeared in the 1986 World Series, their attendance was lower than Rays’ this season.

In other words, Red Sox Nation was more like a province.

by walkoffwalk on Oct 23, 2008 6:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I loved that notation.

And forget about the sub-10k seasons they had in the 60s. Not even we were that bad.

Lay off the stadium, Iwamura

by Orlando Rays on Oct 24, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good article.

The low attendance totals from the 1980’s and prior can be partly attributed to the use of actual instead of announced attendance counts, but the rankings are another story. Everyone’s favorite example of a failed fanbase, Montreal regularly matched or outdrew the Red Sox from 1980-85. As late as 1997, when they finished 20 games behind Baltimore and 2 games out of last, the Red Sox ranked 9th in the AL in attendance and looking over retrosheet, it appears they only sold out for the series with the winning teams of the day (CLE, ATL, NYY).

It is amazing how quickly people forget the ubiquitous power of the bandwagon.

by RATW on Oct 24, 2008 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Everybody loves a winner

by sternfan1 on Oct 23, 2008 6:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Evan Longoria must be shocked to see how many new friends he has acquired.

I hope it does’nt all go to his head.

Recipient of the 2008 "The Iron Man" award from scottnak of Halos Heaven!

by 44FAN on Oct 23, 2008 6:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This site is really getting pimped

This means a bunch of bandwagoners will be commenting on our gameday threads.

by steve-o1285 on Oct 23, 2008 6:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think it's quite funny that several Mariners fans (of Lookout Landing provenance) have longer Rays-following pedigrees than the bandwagon fans TB is picking up now

Hey, what can you say…we’ve been starved for good feelings for a long time now.

J.P. Howell kindly requests that you please Bach the fuck up.

by esoteric on Oct 23, 2008 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

too late

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

by Sandy Kazmir on Oct 24, 2008 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm just here

For the Balfour!
Go Rays!

by Braun Holio on Oct 23, 2008 7:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Best Quote Ever: Watching a Rays game with my roommate, who sees Balfour warming up in the pen for the first time. He says “Why the hell are we bringing in a pitcher named ‘Ball-Four?!’”

by rroan28 on Oct 24, 2008 3:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Because of how easily he gets 'Strike-Three'."

Lay off the stadium, Iwamura

by Orlando Rays on Oct 24, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

worse when you consider his first name … the last thing a pitcher wants to do is “grant ball four”

thankfully, it’s BALF-or (short "a") and hopefully Fox can get it right for everyone to learn… (I was at game one so didn’t see/hear the commentary and don’t think I heard his name mentioned last night)

(and no, I’m not JUST here for the Balfour – I’ve been a Rays fan since I moved to SRQ 6 years ago… OK I maybe jumped on in 2003 when Lou got here, since the ’02 season was pretty much over when I got here…)

by AussieGriff on Oct 24, 2008 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dave Nilsson in your avatar, right?

I have one of the Brewers “Motre Bame” caps autographed by him (at a Waverley Reds game at Parramatta Stadium… man, good times)

by AussieGriff on Oct 24, 2008 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How the fuck could you do an interview with Jemele Hill and not drop a Hitler reference?

by Top Gun Numba 1 on Oct 23, 2008 8:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Glad to be a lifer!

I am glad to have been a member of this site from the beginning on the old site, witnessing Kazmir Record K performance sitting in Rick Vaughn’s seat and going to the first games and still wearing my inaugural shirt around town still every week even though it does not fit right.

Go Rays!

Devil Rays World Series 2009

by Japhei on Oct 24, 2008 10:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs